


Haunted Hawkins

by ObeyDontStray



Category: Stranger Things - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Graphic Injury, Halloween, Multi, Ouija, Spooky, Witchcraft, love potion
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-16
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2019-01-18 04:06:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12380565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObeyDontStray/pseuds/ObeyDontStray
Summary: Joyce and Hopper had several spooky encounters over their years as friends, long before they knew of the real monsters that roam Hawkins.





	1. The Treehouse

The knock on the door startled Jim Hopper. "Let me in, buttface!" Joyce called from the rope ladder leading to the trapdoor of the treehouse. Jim scrambled to open the hatch. He reached out into the darkness and took her hand, helping her up. 

She huffed as she shrugged out of her backpack and sat crosslegged next to him and his coleman lantern. He noticed her backpack was stretched to the seams around a rectangular shape. "What's up?" He asked her. She had asked for him to wait for her out here at midnight. 

"My cousin Stephanie gave me this!" She said excitedly, grabbing her backpack. She pulled out an Ouija board. "Joycie, no! Don't you watch horror movies!" He said, backing into the side of the treehouse and away from her. 

She pointed to the bottom corner of the box. "Ages eight and up!" She said excitedly. "And we're ten!" "And that means old enough to know better!" Jim retorted. 

"You're a big baby, Jimmy Hopper!" She knew he hated the nickname. "Jim!" He fumed. "I'm not a baby!" 

The board was broad and stained tan with black lettering. The moving piece was bone white, like the bleached bones of the dead bird they had found on the riverbank once. "Don't be a baby!" She chided. "Put your fingers on the-" she studied the instructions, "the planchette thingy."

He gave her a fearful look from across the treehouse. "Do it or I'll tell your Dad you're hiding a Playboy up here!" He gasped. "You wouldn't!" 

"Then quit being a baby and play with me." She said with a serious look on her face. "I can think of about a hundred other games I'd rather play." He grumbled as he scooted closer, sitting on his butt with his legs crossed. 

Joyce reached out and put her fingers on the planchette and he followed suit. 

"Is anyone here with us tonight?" She asked quietly. They both gasped when the planchette slid to the word yes. 

"Whose here?" She asked. The planchette slid to the letter R. Jim read it out loud. "R. E. X....Joyce that isn't funny!" Joyce leaned back, grasping her belly as she laughed. "Ruff ruff, Jimmy!" She laughed, referring to Jim's dog Rex who had been run over the summer before. "That's not funny Joyce! He was my best friend!" Jim fumed. 

"I'm your best friend, doofus!" Joyce teased. "Yeah, well I liked Rex better! At least he wasn't mean to me!" Joyce grinned and leaned across the board suddenly, licking the side of Jim's face. "Ewww gross!" Jim said, surprised. He hastily grabbed the sleeve of his flannel and wiped his face. "God Joyce! Ew!" 

She sat back on her heels, grinning like the Cheshire cat. "Put your hands back on the board Jimmy." "This is stupid! I'm going to bed!" He fumed, moving to the trapdoor. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Come back! I'll be serious this time!" She promised. She reached to the hiding spot behind his small bookshelf and withdrew the Playboy. "Remember this?" 

He huffed and moved back to the board, placing his fingers on it. Joyce joined him. She lead them in moving it in a circular motion as she asked the question again. "Is anyone here with us tonight?" 

Jim looked over the board at her. "This is stupid." He said, loosing faith in the mystical properties of the board he was sure there was before. "This is just a stupid board game. It won't move without our fingers. This is lame." 

Suddenly the planchette jerked to the word hello. 

Jim's eyes darted to Joyce's. "Stop playing around, Joyce." "I'm not!" She protested. "Who are you?" She asked. 

She began reading as the board began spelling. "J. A. M. E-" 

"Very fucking funny, Joyce." Jim rolled his eyes. She lifted her fingers off the planchette and without his help it slid to the letter S. His eyes suddenly grew wider and he jerked his hands away. "You made it do that. It's some kind of hocus pocus mind trick." 

"Jim! Your grandpa's name was James, wasn't it?" "Yeah and he just so happens to be hanging out in my treehouse with us right now." Jim said, rolling his eyes. 

The planchette jerked suddenly by itself without their touch. It skidded across the board. Joyce read it out loud. "J. E. H." 

Jim dove for the trapdoor and flung it open. He slid out of the door, his feet struggling to find the ladder. "Jimmy!" Joyce called as she stuffed the board back in her backpack. "That's Grandpa's initials!" He fretted, scrambling to get down. In his haste, his leg fell through one of the spaces in the ladder and he fell. 

"Jimmy!"

Jim hit the ground with a thud and a mighty crack, followed by sudden loud sobs. "Jimmy" Joyce nimbly made her way down the ladder to him. 

He sat up, cradling his right arm against his chest. "Shit!" Joyce cursed when she laid eyes on the jagged broken bone sticking up through the skin. Fat tears were rolling down his cheeks. "Oh my god we're going to be in so much trouble!" She fretted and Jim wailed, the blood running down his arm and staining his jeans. 

Lost on what to do, Joyce leaned forward and kissed Jim's forehead. "Jimmy I'm so sorry!" "Go get my Dad!" He said between hiccuping sobs. Joyce ran to the Hopper residence, bumbling through the house until she got to his parents' door. 

Jim wasn't crying as hard when Joyce ran back out to him. In fact he was gingerly touching the tip of the broken bone, examining it with a morbid fascination. "Gross! Can I feel it?" Joyce asked, reaching out. Jim nodded and she reached out, barely touching it before his parents, dressed in house coats and slippers came running out. 

Before long Jim was loaded into the back of his parent's station wagon and they were leaving Joyce behind with her father standing in their driveway. Together, the children had explained that they were in the treehouse playing with action figures and Jim slipped and fell on the way down. No mention of the Ouija board was made, for the kids feared it would get them in worse trouble. 

The next day Joyce helped Jim's father clear out the treehouse, stuffing the secret Playboy out of sight in the back of her jeans under her shirt, and then she watched from her bedroom window as Mr. Hopper dismantled their hangout. She begged her father to call their neighbors and ask if she could visit long enough to check on her best friend before their respective groundings began. 

She signed his cast 'Joycie Mae Buttface' with a heart.


	2. Love Potion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joyce's eccentric Aunt gives her a little push in the romance department.

Joyce's paternal aunt, Isabel, glanced at her niece from across the kitchen island in her home. "What's his name?" She inquired. 

Joyce snapped out of her daydream. "What's that Auntie?" Her aunt smiled. "You have that look on your face, you're thinking about a boy. So what's his name?" Joyce shrank into herself where she perched on her barstool. She dare not tell her aunt who she was really thinking about. 

"Just a boy at school." She wasn't lying per say, just withholding a name. They were in a lot of the same classes. The boy with beautiful blue eyes and blonde hair that lived next door. 

The old woman smiled. "Joycie, have you had your first kiss?" Joyce's eyes grew wide. "No Auntie! No!" The older woman chuckled. "No shame in it if you have, you're becoming quite a fetching young lady. Soon boys will be tripping over their own feet to get your attention." 

Joyce looked down at her own swinging feet. "No one really pays me any attention." 

Her aunt considered her a moment before she turned to her stove. "How about we fix that? Look in my bedroom darling, get one of the small, empty bottles with a cork." 

When Joyce returned, the kitchen had a strong floral scent with hints of vanilla and cinnamon. "Auntie, what is that? It smells wonderful!" 

The grey haired old woman's kind face wrinkled with her warm smile. "A love potion, if you will. Let's see if you can get that boy's attention!" 

She poured the boiled liquid into a larger glass container but poured some into the tiny vial. "Before you see him, dab some of this behind your ears and on your wrists." She crossed the room to her hallway and retrieved a crystal. "And keep this rose quartz in your pocket, just for extra luck." 

She glanced at the clock. "It's time for you to head home anyway, sugar plum. Believe in this, and it'll work I promise." Joyce gave her aunt a kiss and headed for home. 

-

"Joyce!" She heard a voice from over the hedge as she walked up their concrete drive. She scrambled, fishing for the tiny vial in her pocket. He was rounding the bushes, headed for her. 

"Joyce!" 

The vial slipped from her hand, crashing against the pavement and shattering. She breathed in the floral scent, fighting back the tears of disappointment that welled up. In a last ditch effort, she slid her hand into her pocket and clenched her hand around the quartz. 

"Hey Joycie, glad I caught you!" He said, closing the distance between them and standing in front of her. His heavy brow rose as he noticed the sweet smell. "Is that a new perfume?" He asked, leaning in close. "Yeah, yeah!" She replied, gripping the crystal in her pocket. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. 

"I, uh, I wanted to ask you something." He stammered. "Benny's taking this girl out to the movies friday night and I was wondering, would you like to go with me? A double date. Or not. Not an official date or anything. Unless you want it to be. I mean we're just friends. I mean, we can just hang out-" 

Joyce smiled at his tripping over his own words, thinking of her auntie. "Sure, Jim. I'd love that." He gave her a broad, boyish smile that made her weak in the knees. "It's a date, Jimmy." He gave her another devastating smile before he began backtracking back up her driveway. "See you in class tomorrow!" He bid before he turned around the hedge and headed to his house. 

-  
The knocking at her window woke Joyce. She glanced at her clock. Midnight. 

She grabbed her housecoat and wrapped it around her pajamas as she cautiously walked to the window and opened it. 

Outside, crouched in the tree near her window was Jim Hopper. "What are you doing out here!" Joyce fussed, shivering in the chilly October air. He was barefoot, clad only in a pair of sweatpants. 

He gave her a blank look. "To be honest, I don't know." He smiled. "I just couldn't sleep until I seen you one more time." Joyce rolled her eyes. "You see me all the time. You'll see me in class tomorrow." He shrugged. "I don't know! I just had to see you again tonight." Joyce's faint laugh caused him to smile. "You're a goof, Jim." 

He tested the strength of the branch closest to her window and dared to step out onto it, bracing himself on the trunk of the tree. He was nearly face to face with her in window. He took the extra step and braced his hands on her windowsill. "What are you doing?" She laughed, hands over her mouth as she watched on in concern. "This." He smiled, pulling her hands away and leaning in for a kiss. 

She met him halfway, leaning out of the window to meet his lips. His lips were as warm and soft as she had imagined and one of her small hands came up to rest against his cheek. He pulled back first, grinning like a cheshire cat. Her hand was still on his face and she rubbed a small circle against his cheek with her thumb. 

However a crack and a pop broke their little moment and Jim's eyes grew wide. "Shit!" He said a little too loudly. "Shhh!" Joyce urged as rushed back to the fork in the trunk, crouching down and holding onto the tree for dear life. 

He gave her an unsure grin. "See you in school tomorrow!" 

"Go get some sleep, ya goof!" Joyce laughed. He kept his sight on her as he climbed down, glancing down at the ground a few times before his big, slender feet set back on the wet grass. "Goodnight, Jim Hopper!" She smiled. "Goodnight Joycie!" 

Joyce watched as he jogged back across her lawn to the hedge. She made a mental note to visit Auntie again before friday, and to get a bigger vial this time.


End file.
